The innovative classroom

"The moment we, our generation, is living through is the largest increase in expressive capabilities in human history." This is an interesting TED talk by Clay Shirky, a social media theorist. The increasingly collaborative and interactive nature of media presents opportunities for the education world. Some of the most innovative education technology start-ups that out there right now ( Grockit , Livemocha , Edmodo to name a few) are the ones that understand the new role of social media and are harnessing it for student learning. I am excited to see more EdTech companies take advantage of the trends in social media and online networking.

There is a growing disparity between youth technology consumption inside and outside of school. Reading the study “ Generation M2: Media and the Lives of 8-18 Year Old, ” made me realize quite how stark that disparity is. Understanding how youth are engaging with technology outside of the classroom will be key to understanding how to leverage it within the classroom to promote learning. Here are some highlights from the study: 8-18 year-old spend 7.38 hours a day, seven days a week with media (TV, Internet, video games, songs, websites), this is an increase of a of 1.2 hours from 5 years ago When you account for multi-tasking youth spend 10.5 hours a day with media (!) For the first time since 1999 (when they started doing this research), the amount of time that young people spend watching regularly scheduled television has declined (by .25 hours a day from 3:04 to 2:39 hours). The total number of minutes watching TV or movies has actually increased (by 38 minutes) due to t...

I had dinner the other night with a friend who raved about Davis Guggenhiem's (creator of An Inconvenient Truth ) new film Waiting for Superman. The film debuted at Sundance last winter and took home the audience award for US documentary. One review of the film reads,"Full of refreshingly honest insights and some powerfully upsetting statistics, the film seems angry and critical, but never hopeless. We'd like to think that every kid in America has his own fair shot at a strong education ... but we know they don't. Not really. Movies like Waiting for Superman would like to change that." I'm looking forward to the film's September release.

Susan Patrick, president and CEO of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), explains why she believes the time is ripe for online learning in K-12.

In a speech delivered at the National Charter School Conference last summer Secretary Duncan pledged 5 (now 3.5) billion dollars to support the turnaround of the lowest 5 percent of schools. “We need everyone who cares about public education,” he stated, “to take on the toughest assignment of all—and get in the business of turning around our lowest-performing schools.” It is not surprising that Duncan chose school turnarounds as a focal point in his national education plan. Over 5,000 schools nationwide, according to a study by Mass Insight Education, were designated to enter some form of restructuring by 2009-2010. School improvement programs, which support more incremental methods of change, simply have not worked in the nation’s most underperforming schools. Duncan’s call to action, however, fell on a vastly underdeveloped market place. According to New Schools Venture Fund, at the time of Duncan's speech, there were less than ten organizations engaged in turnaround w...

I had a few conversations with KIPP administrators this week and can't help but be inspired by their dedication and ingenuity. I know they are in the thick of preparing for the start of the school year, and thought I would share a little bit of their inspiration.

President Obama defended his educational program at the 100th anniversary of the National Urban League on Thursday. His plan has come under recent attack from some minority and teacher groups. Teacher unions have objected to the program which places a significant emphasis on teacher evaluations. Minority groups have expressed concern over the extent to which a competition based plan will help black and Latino students. Obama framed the challenges facing education in the larger economic context. “Education is an economic issue, if not the economic issue of our time. It’s an economic issue,” he went on to say, “when the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have. It’s an economic issue when eight in 10 new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education by the end of this decade. It’s an economic issue when we know countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.”

This is a quick shout-out to my mom (Jane Hannaway) who had a letter to the editor published this week in the New York Times. She cited her research i n response to the article " A Chosen Few are Teaching For Americ a" by Michael Winerip. Go Mom! (Given that my mom represents 25% of my current readership and no doubt accounts for a significant number of my page views, I thought a shout-out was only appropriate. Know your audience. Shout-outs may be doled out to my other three readers over the next couple of days. Be warned.)

A group of scientists in Germany are working on using eye tracking technology to create an interactive reading experience. I thought this was kind of cool. To learn more about their project click here .

India unveiled a new tablet computing device priced at around $35. That price is expected to drop to around $10. One can only begin to imagine the impact that a $10 tablet device (if it really can deliver on its promised functionality) could have on educational access in the developing world. While some are skeptical , the announcement today does increase the pressure for cost-conscious computing.

Here is a link to a thread on Quara (Q&A site) that lists some interesting start-ups in the education space: www.quora.com/What-are-some-interesting-startups-in-the-education-space?__snids__=1676419,1548076,1676572 In other news, the number of people following my blog has increased three fold since yesterday. Now not only is my mother reading my post(s), but also two dear friends who I had dinner with last night have started following me. Hey, I'll take it.

Sesame Street was created to help prepare young children, especially children from low-income areas, for school. The show would help low SES students catch-up by giving them access to basic literacy and math skills. Or so it was intended. What actually ended up happening was something referred to by Attewell & Battle (1999) as the “Sesame Street Effect.” Low-income students did improve academically as a result of watching the program. Their rate of improvement, however, was significantly less than their higher SES peers. Thus instead of “catching-up,” lower SES students were left further behind. A technology intended to be an equalizer, ended up increasing the achievement gap. “The Sesame Street Effect” is in on the forefront of my mind when it comes to technological innovation in education. The problem was not the technology. Sesame Street was a brilliant concept that really did help kids learn. The issue was that higher SES and lower SES children engaged with the...